Monday, May 14, 2007

Monday Quickie Coming Later Today

EARLIER: Sorry for the unexpected and unusual delay this a.m. Will post when I can.

WAY LATER:Warriors down 3-1 to Jazz after losing first home game of playoffs: As I said after the Game 2 loss, the same thing you loved about this team a week ago after they vanquished Dallas is the thing that implodes them in losses like last night.

Brett Favre: Trade Me! (Or maybe not): I hope this he-said-he-denied "trade me!" finally exposes Favre once and for all as not worth the idolatry. Maybe this will finally inspire the Packers to do what's best for the team, not Favre.

MLB Mother's Day Stud: Fred Lewis, hits for the cycle (a present for mom) and leads the Giants to a 15-2 win over Colorado.

The most unlikely title of the year: "Phil Mickelson: Ultimate Playa"

NBA Exec of the Year: Bryan Colangelo. Saw this coming before the season started. He's the best exec in the NBA, and he has a second E.O.Y. award ('04-05 PHX) to prove it. Hopefully, his innovative international methods -- which triggered one of the most impressive one-season turnarounds in NBA history -- will inspire other teams' execs. (Either that, or pressure them. I don't care which. Colangelo shows fans that it can be done quickly and relatively easily, and they should hold their own team's GMs to a similar standard.)

NASCAR - Drive a hendricks car in the COT races and you win, Gordon wins his 3rd in 4 races

GOLF - Lefty wins going away, well O'Hair throws some money into the water

NHL - Anaheim ties up the series with an ot win.

MLB - Nice bullpen orioles, wow give up 6 runs with one out in the 9th. Mets take 2 out of 3 from the Brewers. Red Sox with the best record in baseball.2 Best teams in the AL start a series at Fenway tonight, Tigers-Red Sox

NBA - Stick a fork in them the Warriors are done. Down 3-1 after losing at home.

Guthrie is pitching the game of his life, easily gets the first out in the 9th. 2nd out should have been a pop up to the catcher, which is dropped. Guthrie still at only 93 pitches and he gets taken out. Then, instead of bringing in Ray right away before things get dicey, we get Baez. He throws gas on the fire, so when Ray comes in there is a crisis and the stadium is smelling blood. A couple walks later and a botched covering of first and the game is over.

If I didnt expext the O's to do something so bad, it would probably hurt more. Since I could see it coming, the pain was numbed a little.

Judging by the angry posts, I havent seen a regular loss piss off fans like yesterday's did with O's fans.

Is this the last straw? Can a regular season loss for a team with no hope of contending really piss off a fan base this badly? This loss may become the low point of Angelos' ownership (that is saying something).

A few years ago he came and played baseball against Vassar (my soon-to-be alma mater) and our pitchers plunked him twice.

I was at the Sox/O's game yesterday... what a heartbreaker for the O's. Guthrie had the Sox floundering. I couldn't believe they brought in Baez. That is the perfect example of why conventional wisdom about bullpen management is bullshit. You need your relief ace right there.

Indy 500 qualifying started this weekend with 2 females securing spots (Danica, and Sarah Fisher) and another (Milka Duno) trying to get in the final 11 spots this coming Saturday.

3 females in the Indy Racing League (Milka being the 5th in the history of the Indy 500), 1 girl in Champ Car and 1 in NHRA... Interesting that yet no-one is even trying to be the first woman to win the Daytona 500...

I was at the 1-0 playoff loss to cleveland as well. I left the stadium with my friend screaming for a gun so I could shoot Benitez. The sad thing is, Mussina had a no-hitter into the 8th I think and they couldnt score for him. Whenever he got 2 strikes on a hitter, the crowd went nuts. Just an incredible performance that got wasted.

And I am actually working today, so I do not have time to list everything wrong with Angelos. I'll see if I can find a link somewher. I'm sure it is out there.

"No organization in sports has deteriorated as the Orioles have since Peter Angelos became owner, and it's no wonder considering the litany of great baseball people he has fired, run off or scared off."

The above quote is from a Sporting News article on the Orioles...in 2000!

That was before the bottom fell out. The last part of the quote sums up the problem, Angelos has run off the good baseball people and wont hire anyone who stands up to him. He thinks he is always right and makes decisions on his own:

- vetoeing trades and FA signings- firing Jon Miller as announcer because he wasnt pro-Oriole enough- firing Davey Johnson the day he won manager of the year- Running Pat Gillick out of town

Apologies to our female readers but my benchmark for a sport being wimpy is if women can compete equally with men. There are lots of great women's sports such as gymnastics and ice skating where the women are more interesting to watch. However in basketball, soccer, swimming and running, we know that the top women athletes wouldn't qualify for a men's event.

I can't see the day where we will have a woman pro football player (other than place kicker). The same is true for a woman competing against men in baseball, basketball, soccer or pro cycling.

That just illustrates how wimpy golf and race car driving are. I can certainly see a woman being among the top golfers in the world.

I was also at the 1997, 1-0 game, but as a Cleveland fan I have a slightly different take on that fantastic game.

It was a great pitcher's duel with Nagy and Mussina going toe to toe and it was a great atmosphere as well. It really is a shame what Angelos has done to that franchise. For the Red Sox and Yankees, it gives them 9 extra home games a year when they play at Oriole Park.

Joe Borowski....{sigh}. Once again, I was busy and not watching a game that the Indians were winning, only to find out later that Joe blew it again. I didn't even see the "low"-lights, so I can't commment on what happened or didn't happen. Since he is listed as a "dud" with Todd, I'm taking it as it was his fault.

As a Ranger fan (one of the 4 left) I feel for you Orioles fans. Our teams have pretty much mirrored each other since 1996. We both were playoff teams that have fallen because of horrible moves and absurd contracts from inept owners. Screw Angelpos and Tom Hicks. At least you guys were winners once, can't say that here in Texas.

I like Millar. He is a good guy to have around the clubhouse. He should only play against lefties now, because he lost a little bat speed. But definitely a useful player. His clubhouse presence (I know Rob Neyer is choking somewhere) is something a team needs. But he may be a luxury for the Orioles, since they need so many other things now.

I had no idea that there were this many Oriole fans alive? I thought they all jumped ship when Ripken retired...

Last night was awesome, I actually had to search for the remote after the Twins' game was done. Years of suffering through mediocrity and a Dollar General budget was worth it. And I don't care what anyone says, does or doesn't do in the future, I will be a baseball fan. But I will always, always be a Twins' fan first.

Oriole guys: your owner wants to spend money (granted it's somewhat misplaced sometimes) and was able to make sure that you would be able to watch your Orioles when the Nats moved in. Angelo and Snyder have a lot in common, but the biggest common thread is that they want to win and have the $$ to spend to try and do that. Be greatful we have sports ladies and gentlemen.

@geoff: Michelle Wie (though I don't think she should compete with men now) can hit longer than at least half the men on the PGA Tour. So yes, a woman (or a few) would be able to compete on the PGA Tour someday.

@b.viddy: Can you elaborate on Tom Hicks? I know he gave ARod THAT contract, but does he interfere with baseball decisions or does he just sign paychecks? Is he bad with the Stars (NHL)? I'm curious because he just bought my favorite EPL team and am wondering what's going to happen.

In case anyone was interested, and you're probably not, Joe Posnanski of the KC Star wrote his annual "Royals are Done" column. My favorite quote:

The best/worst so far happened earlier in the week against Oakland when Peña was on second and a fly ball was hit just behind the bag. Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis caught the ball about 30 feet behind the bag, and Peña, for reasons that will only be apparent to him, decided to tag up and force a throw. He did force it — Ellis threw the ball to the pitcher covering second, and he tagged out Peña.

The replays showed that Peña was probably not out — the tag was late. But Buddy Bell did not argue the call, and afterward, he offered my favorite quote of 2007. He said, “I don’t argue for stupid baseball.”

He is either trying to emulate the Oakland A's by not spending any money on anybody, or he spends too much. Besides the A-Rod contract he killed the team by signing Chan Ho Park for 5 years and 56 million. A few years back he put millions into Ken Caminiti. He gave form GM John Hart free reign over the team even after he tried to get rid of Micheal Young and traded Travis Hafner for Einar Diaz stright up. He goes in phases where is is easily influenced and signs checks, and when that fails he tries to take control agian. Both are disaterous. As far as the stars? He didnt bother to show up to game 5 or 6 because he was at a tuesday night Rangers game against the Blue Jays. Just doesn't care anymore.

My prediction for his soccer club: He tries to learn the business by wathcing and just signing checks, when that doesn't work expect him to pull the plug on the teams payroll. You can't blame the guy for trying to be competitive, its just hard when one min you spend like the Yankees and at the first sign of failure you cut payroll and spend like the A's. Leaves your team with one or two high paid stars and thats about it.

Cornell was undefeated, ranked #1 for the last 8 weeks of the season, beat Duke at Duke and earned a 4 seed while Duke earned a 1 seed. Actually, I can even understand Duke being a 1 seed based upon strength of schedule but how does Cornell drop to a #4?

That being said, if they win the next 3 games and the NC, then the seeding won't really matter anyhow.

I am not really a lacrosse fan but how often is Cornell good in any sport? My senior year there they lost to Syracuse in the NC game.

Todd: you have no idea how bad it sucks to get to work at 7am and check the quickie at about 7:30 and see 63 posts already. It truly does suck. Some days I miss the east coast and some days I like golfing in December. ?? Toss up I guess.

Funnily enough, I think Hicks will find it difficult to ruin Liverpool. The club has far more of a history, tradition of success, and highly competent management structure than any of his other ventures, and the impact of some of his wilder impulses might be tempered by the fact that he's only half of an ownership team. I think Benitez will retain enough control in the transfer market to remove any real need for ownership panic.

Dan could also be celebrating the Jai Lucas commitment. I'm pretty sure we'll have to hear about how he'll be the Best. Point-guard partially named after a sport that I have no idea how is played. Ever.

Sheldiz,Yup, Cornell has a decent hockey team that has been up and down over the years. They were pretty good in the 80's. Actually the one sport that Cornell seemed to dominate in was Polo. While I was there, they built a brand new multi-million dollar facility. We got to practice rugby inside the old facility when there was still snow on our field.

Oh, and hockey definitey counts as a real sport. I know there are many definitions of the word sport including ones just meaning any competition. I love playing chess and I realize how amazingly hard it is but it is not a sport to me in the athletic sense.

My previous comment was before the post. As the only east coast reader left in my office, I feel obliged to comment on something.... hmmm....

I have to agree with Favre on this one. No way he comes back for a "rebuilding" year -- what former MVP would ever do that. He wants to win, and the team did absolutely nothing to support that. Did any team do less this offseason to get better than the Packers? I'd be pissed too. He should go to Philly, where McNabb is destined for an 8 game season, so he can play 8 games and some playoffs as well.

I understand the rush, but NO love for Northwestern's women sports? The NU Women's Lacrosse team is #1 and in the quarterfinals of the NCAAs, and the 'Cats Softball team is the #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Oh, wait. You sold out Northwestern for the Gators. May your soul rot in hell.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.